iPhone growth lowest since 2007 launch

Samantha Murphy

It may seem like everyone already has all the mobile devices they need, but global shipments for notebooks, tablets and smartphones reached 308.7 million in the first quarter of 2013, up more than 37 per cent in the same quarter from the year before.

According to new data from Canalys, Android continues to dominate the mobile market, making up nearly 60 per cent of those shipments. Apple accounted for about 19 per cent of the share and Microsoft brought in 18 per cent.

Tablets are the fastest growing among the three markets, climbing 106 per cent year-over-year to 41.9 million units. Apple continues to take the lead with a 46 per cent tablet share, but it only experienced modest annual growth (6.7 per cent) for its smartphones. In fact, it reached the lowest level since the 2007 launch of the original iPhone.

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With smartphone shipments topping 216 million in the quarter — and maintaining strong growth — Android devices accounted for 76.6 per cent. Samsung was the top manufacturer, growing its volume by 64 per cent year-on-year.

"Despite its slowing growth, Apple still shipped over 37 million iPhones," said Pete Cunningham, Canalys Principal Analyst. "But HTC and Samsung have raised the bar with their latest handsets and Apple needs to respond with its next iPhone"

"The iPhone user interface is now six years old and badly in need of a refresh," Cunningham added. "Hardware-wise, the biggest dilemma that Apple faces is what it does with the size of the display on the next iPhone. It cannot afford to ignore the trend for larger displays in premium smart phones. We expect an increase on the iPhone 5's 4' display but are not anticipating a 'Phablet'-style iPhone."

After Samsung and Apple, manufacturers Huawei, LG and ZTE rounded out the top five — but they all make up less than 5 per cent of the market share.

Shipments of notebook PCs totaled 50.5 million in the first quarter, down 13.1 per cent compared to the same period in 2012.

Mashableis the largest independent news source covering digital culture, social media and technology.

62 comments

RIP iPhone. Remarkable that such a progressive company have been so stuck in their ways and terrified that their users would not be able to handle change.

Commenter

Heater

Location

Melbourne

Date and time

May 13, 2013, 11:21AM

Steve Jobs was the driving force behind Apple. His absence is starting to take it's toll.

Commenter

bw

Location

Sydney

Date and time

May 13, 2013, 12:30PM

Yes, Apple over-hyped itself but couldn't deliver in the long run. It really is not much more than a one trick pony. Its had 6 years to come up with something new - more than enough time. The iPad doesn't count because its really just a big iPhone without the phone. Much of Apple's success has been based on appearances rather than function, so when other manufacturers started producing great looking phones that were functionally better, Apple's market share started to fall - and is still falling fast.

Commenter

WillD

Date and time

May 13, 2013, 12:43PM

But Apple changed the charger on the iPhone 5.. what are you talking about?

Commenter

Steve Jobs

Location

Grave

Date and time

May 13, 2013, 12:46PM

Apple revolutionised the smart phone with the original iPhone. Providing an app store where you can buy 3rd party applications for it and so on.

But now, Android, Windows and Blackberry do the same thing. And some of them do it better than Apple even.

So their point of difference is now lost.

The need another revolutionary idea to re-capture that lost market share.

Otherwise, they will fade into the background selling a commodity product indistinguishable from their competition.

Commenter

Rainier Wolfcastle

Location

Location Unknown

Date and time

May 13, 2013, 1:43PM

The iphone platform is attractive to developers because it is homogenous, you don't have to worry too much about hardware differences, screen resolutions, or differences to the interface between versions. In any event, I don't think tweaking the interface or even revising the hardware is going to make that much of a difference.

This is capitalism at its finest. The iphone was the only decent phone in town for a long while, but the Android phones have marched steadily on. Ice Cream Sandwich marked the point at which Android really matured as a product. People evangelise on behalf of one of the other but they offer similar functionality.

Expect Apple to have to compete on price going forward. That means hardware every bit as good as what Samsung puts into their flagship phones, as well as lower price points to deal with the better value propositions such as the Nexus range of devices.

Behind in what ways?Screen size? Apple wants to keep the size small so you can reach the entire screen with your thumb with the average hand size. They haven't given in to pressure to make a massive phone for the sake of it.As for specs on hardware, iOS is very efficient so the memory performance is very fast so less ram is needed. You can't compare specs for processor and ram etc for iOS directly against Android. Apple now designs their processors so who know what optimization they incorporate to ensure they can run at a slower speed than off the shelf bought ones that Samsung and others have to use.

Commenter

Randy

Date and time

May 13, 2013, 5:52PM

I think Apple needs a new gadget that appears extraordinary. My observation is that the name 'iPhone' is getting bored to some of the neutral consumers, which could be majority as they are happily to shift either way in their social group. Of course if you are an Apple admirer then you'll still try to get whatever product they make, speculatively this maybe only 10-20%.

Commenter

Gerson

Location

Sydney

Date and time

May 13, 2013, 11:54AM

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